we hit up city o city at around 9am on a saturday morning and the place was already bustling, but we were able to get a seat at a long communal table in the middle of the restaurant. my only complaint is that the table was pretty fat and they seated us across from each other, so it felt like we were dining far apart. the food was amazing though…

my husband ordered the breakfast burrito made vegan style: scrambled tofu, potatoes, and pinto beans rolled up in a tortilla and topped with chile or gravy for seven bucks. burritos never photograph very well, but this thing was excellent. not enough places put beans in their breakfast burritos, but they’re so good! other restaurants, take note.

the burrito was on the medium size compared to some of the beasts i’m used to, but it was packed full and definitely filling. the chile on top was delicious, but i’d be interested in trying it with gravy next time.

advance tickets are only ten bucks (they go up to $15 the day of), and i highly encourage you to RSVP sooner rather than later. not only because the event will probably sell out, but because the organizers want to be sure to cook enough food for everyone to be absolutely stuffed. the menu is looking insane: think herb roasted potatoes, smoked jackfruit burritos, seitan sausage, aztec tofu scramble, muffins, sweet rice, drinks, and cocktails for an additional charge! if there’s one thing LA is missing, it’s an all you can eat vegan sunday brunch. let’s take advantage of this one, even if it’s just for one weekend!

the hungry tiger too in portland has to be one of my favorite places on earth. not only is it a bar with a pretty good craft beer selection, but it’s a full on restaurant as well with a separate vegan menu and the best biscuits and gravy known to man. why, oh why can’t we have somewhere like this in los angeles?

we’ve been fans of hungry tiger too for a couple years now, and make it a point to eat there on every trip to portland. imagine how delighted we were on our recent visit, to learn fromfriends that the already giant menu had expanded to include even more vegan options! we headed over for what turned out to be one of the best brunches in recent memory. check it out:

as you probably know, the opening hours of madeleine bistro(what i consider to be the finest vegan restaurant on earth), have been pretty irregular. over the past year, they’ve shut down their weekday operation, gone on hiatus, switched around their weekend schedule, and everything in between. thankfully for us, it now appears as though they’ve settled into a normal routine of being open on saturday and sunday evenings for dinner, as well as brunch time on sunday from 10am – 3pm.

we checked them out for brunch last sunday at around 11am, and had a meal of epic proportions. i am constantly amazed by the insane food this restaurant is able to create—it’s truly next level vegan stuff like i’ve never tasted. the first thing i noticed when i opened the menu was the addition of a tempeh reuben. being obsessed with the sandwich (you may remember the reuben wars of ’09!), of course i had to order it.

tempeh reuben with choice of side. $12

phenomenal. madeleine bistro’s reuben is much more dainty and delicate than the giant reubens full of fake meat that i’m used to, and even more delicious. thin pieces of tempeh topped with homemade cheese, sauerkraut, and thousand island, served between two slices of grilled bread. it came with a choice of side, and i opted for the potato salad…

the best potato salad ever

hands down, best potato salad i’ve ever eaten. it consisted of red potatoes, chives, and celery in a light creamy sauce. my only complaint is that i wanted more.

chocolate covered donut. $2

i finished it all off with some vegan creme brulee (pictured at the top–OMG!) and a chocolate covered donut, another new (to me) addition to the menu. i have been a fan of madeleine bistro’s normal sugar coated donuts for years (they even made our bucket list!), and i think i liked this one even more. the cake was hot, fresh, and surprisingly light…while the chocolate was rich and melty.

we grabbed some photos of other madeleine dishes (all stuff we’ve blogged about before), but check them out anyway…

hey everyone! time for another northern california post from our field reporter, righteous fist! you may remember his last soul food find in eureka, and today he’s bloggin’ breakfast foods from arcata. enjoy!

On our way out of Eureka we made a stop for breakfast at Wildflower Cafe in Arcata. They serve eggs and dairy there but also have a good number of vegan choices. Since having so many options to choose from was a rare occurrence on this road trip, I opted for both a savory AND sweet dish.

Scrambled Tofu - Locally made tofu, sauteed with ginger, garlic, onions, and a wonderful blend of herbs and spices. Served with homefries. $8

that’s right. it’s sunday, which means sweetpea baking in portland is holding its weekly all you can eat vegan buffet…and today is biscuits and gravy day!

there is a whole lot of good food to eat in pdx, and if you are there on a weekend, make sure to put sweetpea’s sunday brunch buffet at the top of your list. it’s ten bucks for all you can eat, and it’s absolutely fantastic. it starts at 9am, and be sure to get there early because it gets crowded pretty quickly.

an old school diner that’s been around for almost a century, serves breakfast all day, and has loads of vegan options? sounds to good to be true! well believe me folks, it does exist…it’s called st. francis fountain, and it’s located in san francisco’s mission district.

we schlepped our bags to st francis straight from the airport when we visited SF a few weeks ago. our flight got in at around 9am, and we were ravenous. i was immediately taken aback by how crowded it was for a weekday morning! almost all the stools at the bar were taken, and the booths along the wall were full. we were lucky enough to get the last seat in the house, a small two top tucked away in the corner under a window. i loved the vibe of the place right away, decorated very 50s style with a friendly staff.

the menu was huge with lots of hearty vegan options. it’s completely different and much more vegan-friendly than the one posted on their website, so don’t even bother looking there. scrambles, pancakes, milkshakes—all available animal-free.

san diego is a beautiful place to visit, and when in town its worth organizing your trip around a weekend breakfast in ocean beach at people’s organic foods market. the all vegetarian co-operative store has been around since the 70s, and houses a small vegan cafe upstairs with a morning spread that can’t be beat. we’ve reviewed brunch at people’s co-op before, and i’m happy to report that when we visited again a few weeks ago, it was just as good as we remembered.

another day, another vegan restaurant opens in LA. that’s what it feels like sometimes, doesn’t it? we are spoiled for choice here in los angeles, and now we can add sage vegan bistro in echo park to our long list of local animal-free eateries.

the newly opened cafe occupies the former mooi space (so sad they closed down!) on sunset, and serves a wide variety of vegan cuisine with a creative twist–stuff like samosa burgers, french grain bowls, plantain sandwiches, seitan salads, and jackfruit tacos. i checked out sage this weekend for brunch with fellow quarrygirl staffer brittany, and our meal was ace!

the brunch menu is served on saturdays and sundays from 9am to 5pm, and it’s loaded with crazy-sounding menu items. in fact, we had a really hard time deciding what to order. after seriously considering the frittata, potato lattkes, and walnut sausage croissant (i need to go back and try that last one), i decided on the jackfruit chorizo burrito…

jackfruit chorizon burrito: smoked spicy jackfruit, roasted potato, tofu egg, gazpacho and avocado wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla served with a side of rice and beans and adobo chili sauce. $8.25

this thing was a monster and puts most vegan burritos i’ve eaten in my life to shame. it was giant and shoved full of all kinds of tasty ingredients. the menu description doesn’t do it justice—there was jackfruit, scrambled tofu, roasted potatoes, white sauce, black beans, salsa, guacamole, and fresh jalapenos all rolled up together. it came with a side of rice and beans, as well as some extra spicy hot sauce. i gotta admit, this thing was so full of food that i had to eat it with a knife and fork. it looks all neat and innocent in the photo, but believe me, i made a mess of it. this thing had everything i look for in a burrito—it was enormous, the ingredients were fresh, and there was a lot of variety. from the crisp vegetables, to the creamy sauces, to sausagy jackfruit and the chunky nutritional yeasty tofu, this burrito had me covered. i would definitely order it again.

As a boy growing up in England, my mother used to cook a Sunday Roast every week. It was always a big performance, with lots of ingredients, interminably long cooking time and a somewhat formal consumption ritual of sitting at the big table, usually reserved for guests. Sometimes, though, (when we could afford it) we’d go out for our meal and my memories are filled with those occasions: smiling restaurant staff, large plates of food and plenty of subdued light from the London skies.

I also look back with sadness on the cruelty that was on my plate: the flesh we so fancifully fried was quickly relegated to a meatona-non gratis as I became vegetarian and then vegan. Indeed, I abandoned Sunday Roast many years ago in despair of such meaty plates all around me.

Fast forward way too many years for me to remember, and I can gladly confirm that the Sunday Roast is back in my life with a vengeance – at Manna restaurant in Primrose Hill. In fact, special vegetarian Sunday menu items have been served at Manna since the 1960s, and more lately their Vegan Sunday Roast delivers a traditional, yet superior (and of course cruelty-free) offering that’s to die for.

the brunch was scheduled to start at 10am, but the kitchen was running a bit behind. one thing about doomie’s is, they can be unpredictable. at their worst, they might be running late or running out of food early…but one thing’s for sure, the quality of the food never suffers. EVER. on saturday at 10:15, doomie’s still hadn’t started serving, but there was already a huge crowd ready to eat. seriously, vegans were excited about this place, and with good reason…

georgetown liquor company is a must visit vegetarian bar in seattle, and being fairly close to the airport, it’s the perfect stop for visitors on the way in and out of town. the rugged little boozer serves up a large menu of meat-free sandwiches and entrees, most of which can be veganized, as well as a killer brunch on the weekends. georgetown was the both the first and last place we ate on our recent trip to seattle, and both of our meals there were delicious. let’s start off with brunch…

Skits n Gravy: Our very own vegan biscuits covered with country gravy. Served with fresh herb roasted potatoes and fruit. $8

after landing at seatac at around 9:30am on a saturday, we headed straight to georgetown to open them up for brunch. i was excited to hear that their biscuits and gravy were vegan, because we all know that i’m a huge fan of the old b&g. the skits n gravy, as the menu called them, were damn good. for 8 bucks i got a plate stacked with 3 biscuits and loads of herb roasted breakfast potatoes smothered in white country gravy with a fruit garnish. the biscuits were a tad hard for my liking, but i couldn’t fault the gravy—it was excellent. surprisingly, my favorite thing on the plate was the breakfast potatoes; they were deliciously seasoned with the perfect amount of oil.

it being the start of my vacation and all, i also ordered a brunch cocktail—the clockwork orange.

georgetown pours their drinks pretty strong, and after this $8 mix of vodka and oranges, i was sufficiently liquored up. the cocktail was tasty as well, lots of pulpy fruit and the perfect blend of alcohol. i highly recommend it.

Chicken Fried Steak: House made seitan steak, breaded fried and smothered in our delicious country gravy. Served with fresh herb roasted potatoes and choice of toast. $10

although the skits n gravy were great, the other brunch entree we ordered was WAY BETTER. i’m talking about the chicken fried steak! it came with the same awesome breakfast potatoes and gravy as well as a huge hunk of breaded and fried seitan. there aren’t many things better in this world then a fat chunk of vegan fried wheat meat drenched in creamy gravy, lemme tell you! this was actually my husband’s meal, but i ended up stealing tons of it and wishing i had ordered it myself.

our next trip to georgetown was on our way out of seattle, right before we headed back to the airport. this time it was a week day at around 2pm, so it was time for lunch and beer rather than brunch and cocktails. we got two sandwiches to share, both of which were phenomenal.

we started with a vegan version of the picard, which came with lentil-sage field roast, roasted onions, tofu cream cheese and garlic spread on a toasted ciabatta and swerved with au jus for dipping. it was insane!

the bread was warm and crunchy, the field roast was hearty, and the cream cheese/garlic combo was smooth and tangy. this has really got to be one of the best vegan sandwiches known to man. it was served with a choice of side, and we opted for the house salad which was very fresh and healthy tasting. no complaints!

we also split a vegan version of the “darth reuben” because if i see a vegan reuben on a menu, i pretty much have to order it. this sandwich was amazing and i can’t fault it, but it just wasn’t as special as the picard. it came with roasted tomato field roast and sauerkraut on toasted marbled rye. field roast is probably the best vegan meat substitute out there, so it worked really well as pastrami in the reuben. for this sandwich, we got the soup of the day as our side, which turned out to be split pea. it was fantastic—very comforting and satisfying, plus it worked great as a dip for the sandwich!

overall, georgetown liquor company gets an A+. it’s an all vegetarian establishment, a great little bar, and it’s got delicious vegan options for brunch, lunch, and dinner. with GLC being located so conveniently between downtown and the airport, i don’t see why i wouldn’t hit it up AT LEAST twice on every trip to seattle.

whenever i see vegan biscuits and gravy on a menu i HAVE TO order them, so naturally that’s what i got…

better than biscuits and gravy: two biscuit halves layered with steamed greans and tofu scramble; with white gravy and choice of side. $13.75

the plate was HUGE, as it should have been for almost $14. i mean, that’s expensive, right? i dunno how they roll in NYC, but here in LA you can get a massive plate of biscuits, gravy, sausage, and bacon for under ten bucks. anyways, i must say the gravy was fantastic and was the highlight of the meal. it was of the thicker and whiter variety, which is my favorite kind. the tofu scramble had a great flavor, but was a little to mushy for my taste. the biscuits were decent albeit a tad dry.

the meal came with a choice of side (steamed greens, salad, or fruit), and i went with the steamed greens, not realizing they already came with the dish…so an extra side of them was way too much. look at the plate above, it looks like its about 50% greens. what you can’t see though, is that there were greens in the tofu as well and on top of the biscuits. it was greens mania! sadly, they kind of overpowered the whole brunch.

tofu scramble: tofu crumbled and sauteed with onion and special seasoning, served with home fries and choice of side. $13.75

my husband was initially going to get the breakfast sandwich (a biscuit topped with tofu scramble and tempeh), but fearing it would be too much like the biscuits and gravy, he went with the tofu scramble instead. this was also $13.75, and it came with a huge lump of scramble, roasted home fries, and choice of side (GREENS!).

the home fries at sacred chow are amazing, and were probably the best thing on the table. huge hunks of roasted potatoes that were crispy, perfectly seasoned, and not the least bit oily. the greens and tofu were the same as in my dish, there was just more tofu and less greens…which was a good thing!

overall, brunch was pretty good…but it was very expensive and the biscuits and gravy didn’t live up to my super highstandards. i know i will be back to sacred chow though, i really like the vibe of the place and our previous visit was so outstanding.

this is GREAT NEWS.mooi, one of the best places to get raw food in los angeles, is now offering a full sunday brunch menu with both raw and cooked items! i can’t think of anywhere else to get vegan brunch in echo park…so eastsiders, get on this.

brunch will be offered every sunday at mooi from 10am to 3pm, and you can check out the menu here. i don’t know about you, but the “lenti, spinach, walnut & seared shiitake mushroom terrine” is calling my name!

stephen hauptfuhr (the owner and chef at mooi) was kind enough to send me some snap shots of the brunch items for your enjoyment. so get over there and check them out this sunday!